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La preistoria dei Crawlspace affonda negli anni del punk-rock.
Il cantante Eddie Flowers (cresciuto in Alabama) si trasferi` a Bloomington
(Indiana) per suonare nei Gizmos all'inizio
dell'era punk. Disperso il gruppo alla fine del decennio,
Flowers emigro` a Los Angeles e suono`
per qualche tempo con Steve Wynn, prima che questi lanciasse i Dream Syndicate.
La svolta decisiva nella vita di Flowers fu il trasferimento a Los Angeles di
alcuni vecchia amici dell'Indiana, i Lazy Cowgirls.
Nel 1985 Flowers raccolse
infatti il chitarrista Keith Telligman (che nei Cowgirls suonava il basso)
e il batterista Allen Clark, assunse il novizio Billy Ray McCarter, e formo` i
Big Dad & 10 Lbs Of Swingin' Meat. Per qualche attimo,
Clark e Telligman costituirono una delle sezioni ritmiche
piu` spettacolari dell'epoca.
Il sound del gruppo (una fusione naturale degli stili di Gizmos e Lazy Cowgirls)
segnava un ritorno al rock violento di Detroit, quello di MC5 e Stooges.
The early rehearsals will surface on the cassette
Aluminum & Strychnine (Crawlspace, 1999).
In breve pero` Flowers comincio` a sperimentare sonorita` "progressive"
che incorporavano un po' di tutto, dal free jazz all'acid-rock, dal rock
tedesco all'avanguardia. Il quartetto comincio` a praticare un genere di
lunga improvvisazione collettiva che poco aveva a che vedere con il punk-rock,
e con il rock in generale. La componente jazz fini` per prendere del tutto il
sopravvento nel 1987, con l'ingresso del secondo chitarrista Mark McCormick e di
un tale Lenny che scomparira` presto dalla formazione (per aggregarsi ai
Creamers).
L'esordio nell'aprile 1988 sulla compilation Gimme The Keys (Trigon, la stessa
che lancio` Claw Hammer e Fearless Leader) con i
brani Time For Fun, The Void That Slithers e Black To Comm fu pertanto
all'insegna di una personale revisione dell'ideologia libertaria di (citando
da un loro volantino) Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy,
Miles Davis, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, ferme restando le radici negli esperimenti
di Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Can, Grateful Dead e Yoko Ono, e ossequiando
come padri spirituali gli intellettuali dell'hardcore come
Black Flag, Minutemen e Birthday Party.
Sul primo singolo, Silent Invisible Conversation (Grown Up Wrong), uscito nel
dicembre 1988, figura al posto di Lenny il bassista Sarge (fondatore dei
Fearless Leaders con Brick Wahl).
Registrato fra il settembre del 1987 e il giugno del 1988, quindi con una
formazione in evoluzione, nell'aprile del 1989 esce il primo album,
In The Gospel Zone (Behemoth).
E` ancora forte l'influenza dei Lazy Cowgirls. Il sound
e` quasi punk-rock, strutturato in canzoni piu` o meno regolari. I testi
sono sinistri, quasi gotici. Ma vi figura anche una versione di un brano dei
Can di un quarto d'ora che punta in ben altre direzioni.
Il batterista Bob Lee (attivo anche in duo con Joe Baiza) e`
la novita` principale dei singoli August/ Africa (Sympathy, 1989) e
Ocean=You/ Solitude Smokestack Head (Sympathy, 1990). La formazione si
stabilizza finalmente con il bassista Joe Dean al posto di McCarter e Sarge.
Flowers, McCormick, Telligman, Dean e Lee costituiscono una formazione
agguerrita e smaliziata, che sul singolo On The Tide/ Hook In The Gray
(Forced Exposure, 1991) si avvale anche di due membri dei
Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band, Todd Hamer e Larry Robinson,
altri veterani della scena punk di Los Angeles, provenienti dagli
Angry Samoans. Le improvvisazioni di questo disco sanciscono la definitiva
maturita` dell'ensemble.
The original rehearsals of this quintet will be collected on the CDs
Archive Space 1 & 2 (Crawlspace, 2000).
Tracks like Crawl Crappersweet, Hatch and Ocean
manage to wed
Captain Beefheart's spastic blues and Velvet Underground's hypnotic boogie.
The cassette Fields Rattle (Crawlspace, 1999) also contains material of
that age, one side with Dean and one side with Lee and others.
La cassetta To' Up (Crawlspace, 1991) contiene una jam dal vivo della
formazione che stava registrando Sphereality (Sympathy, 1992).
Nei settanta
minuti di questo disco il quintetto ha modo di sfogare le proprie libidini
strumentali. I sedici minuti di Go-Boy's Eyes Begin Their Plunder Hatch
vivono di due temi incrociati alle chitarre, uno melodico e l'altro quasi raga:
lungi dall'essere completamente "libera", la jam conserva unita` e coesione
lungo tutto l'arco dell'improvvisazione. You Bleed Love si riavvicina invece
al formato della canzone all'insegna di un maschio blues-rock nella tradizione
di Hendrix e Allman Brothers. Con la title-track, finalmente, il gruppo
si immerge nella psichedelia: suspense di accordi sgretolati, riff e ritmo
scanditi in maniera marziale. E` il preludio al medley di mezz'ora di
Creek Burst Clear, un lungo deliquio nel nulla per il quale Flowers mutua
gesti e toni da Jim Morrison e Nick Cave. Gli strumenti rifiutano qualunque
parte razionale, bisbigliano in trance, si muovono sonnolenti e impacciati.
Questo lungo cerimoniale sottotono rappresenta la formulazione matura del
loro free jazz psichedelico.
Il canto del cigno di quel quintetto fu il 10" di God Zee (Behemoth, 1993),
altro ricettacolo di logorroiche improvvisazioni sconnesse.
The original rehearsals of that line-up will eventually surface on
Archive Space 3 (Crawlspace, 2000), including the swinging
Elmersphere and Undone Hover.
Segui` un altro periodo di instabilita`, con McCormick, Clark e Telligman
impegnati nel progetto Dizbuster e Lee conteso fra i Claw Hammer e di nuovo
Joe Baiza (nei suoi Nastassya Filippovna, ovvero con Mike Watt e Devin Sarno,
un quartetto che sembrava un supergruppo del dopo-hardcore).
Per il singolo Lunar Fuckin' Eclipse (Behemoth, 1995) Telligman e Lee vennero
sostituiti dal chitarrista Dave Fontana e dal batterista Greg Hajic. Il brano
e` forse il piu` swingante della loro carriera, e Flowers impersona il piu`
folle David Thomas con rara efficacia.
La sorpresa su The Exquisite Fucking Beauty (Majora, 1995), stampato su
vinile in 500 copie, e` il ritorno di Allen Clark (questa volta nelle vesti di
tastierista, trombettista, flautista) e Bob Lee, mentre scompare Hajic.
La formazione a sei rappresenta una specie di summa della saga del complesso.
La title-track, che occupa l'intera prima facciata, inizia come un soul-jazz
dinoccolato da cocktail lounge, ma presto le chitarre si inerpicano in
dissonanze galattiche e quando il gruppo riordina i ranghi sembra di ascoltare
Tim Buckley che guida l'Art Ensemble Of Chicago.
La seconda facciata, Slippy Slowdown Town/ Lake Daddy Jim, e` piu` ostica,
solcata fin dall'inizio da nugoli di suoni alieni, con la voce a delirare
ubriaca sui fraseggi sconnessi delle chitarre.
Stupisce pertanto un po' che due anni dopo sia tutto da rifare:
The Dark Folds Of Infinity Grow Pink With Desire (Majora, 1997) e` suonato
praticamente soltanto da Flowers e Dean, con contributi saltuari degli altri.
I brani sono nove, e anche questa frammentazione e` insolita. Il tono e` quello
freddo e calcolatore di un'opera di sperimentazione fine a se stessa, molto
lontano da quello disinvolto e sornione delle jam precedenti.
Then We May Speak e` praticamente un assolo di chitarra iper-distorta da
parte di Flowers.
Su Mud In Yr I figura il sintetizzatore analogico con i suoi buffi ronzii.
Vengono in mente gli strumentali ferocemente cubisti dei Neu ascoltando i suoni
metallici e martellanti dello strumentale A Pig Is Not A Motherfuckin' Cop.
Altri brevi saggi di cosa il gruppo potrebbe suonare: i riff swinganti di
Splooge, il blues spastico di Catherine & The Earthquake, la fanfara
meccanica e stonata di Scungilli, il pow-wow grottesco di
Another Fine Mess.
Sono studi sulla timbrica degli strumenti che ricordano le ricerche di Robert
Fripp e la follia animalesca di Captain Beefheart.
Flowers lambisce persino le piu` provocatorie piece dadaiste con
I Wish It Would Pour, per versi della fattoria, voce rallentata in un incubo
eroinomane e magma informe di accordi; o con Fate Music, musica aleatoria
per frequenze estreme di armonica, flauto e scacciapensieri.
Nell'arco dei nove brani la voce viene usata poco, e anche quando lo e` finisce
per essere soltanto un altro strumento. Flowers sta dirigendo verso una musica
d'avanguardia psichedelica.
Il riferimento e` piu` Cage che Coltrane, piu` Varese che i Pink Floyd.
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(Translated from Italian by Dana Renga)
The history of Crawlspace begins in the punk-rock era.
The singer Eddie Flowers (who grew up in Alabama) moved to Bloomington,
Indiana, to play with the
Gizmos, who produced three 7-inch EPs, the first
in 1976. At the end of the 70s, the group split up (after a different line-up
of the group recorded the only album under the Gizmos name). Flowers moved
to Los Angeles and played with Steve Wynn for awhile, before Wynn started
the Dream Syndicate. [Eddie's note: Actually, Steve Wynn only jammed with
Bill McCarter and me twice, in 1981.]
The decisive move for Flowers was when a few of his old
friends from Indiana moved out to Los Angeles: the
Lazy Cowgirls.
In 1985,
Flowers hooked up with guitarist Keith Telligman (who played bass in the
Cowgirls) and the Allen Clark, and Billy Ray McCarter, and the
group became Big Dad & 10 Lbs. of Swingin' Meat. For a few seconds,
Clark and Telligman were one of the most spectacular rhythm
sections of the period. The group's style (which was a natural fusion
of the styles of the Gizmos and the Lazy Cowgirls) marked a return to the
violent rock of Detroit, similar to the sound of the MC5 and the Stooges.
[Eddie's note: I had met Billy Ray in Indiana, not the Cowgirls. They were
his friends, who moved to L.A. in 1981, two years after Bill and I had
both coincidentally moved West.]
The early rehearsals will surface on the cassette
Aluminum & Strychnine (Crawlspace, 1999).
Flowers, however, began to experiment with a more progressive
sound that was a combination of a little of everything, from free jazz
to acid-rock, from Krautrock to the avant garde. The quartet began to practice
a sort of collective improvisation that had less to do with punk-rock,
let alone with rock in general. The jazz component ended up taking the
upper hand in 1987, with the entrance of a second guitarist, Mark McCormick,
as well as a guy named Lenny who quickly left the group (in order to join
the Creamers). They debuted in April of 1988 with the compilation Gimme
the Keys(Trigon Records; the same label who first recorded Claw Hammer
and Fearless Leader) with the songs "Time For Fun," "The Void That Slithers,"
and the MC5's "Black to Comm." The teachings of a libertine ideology that
includes (citing from an insert) Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Sun Ra,
Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago were evident
in their style, while they still maintained the experimental rock roots
of Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Can, the Grateful Dead, and Yoko Ono,
as well as their spiritual fathers of the hardcore scene like Black Flag,
the Minutemen, and the Birthday Party.
Their first 7-inch EP, Silent Invisible Conversation(Grown
Up Wrong! Records), came out in December of 1988, with the bassist Sarge
(who founded Fearless Leaders with Brick Wahl) taking the place of Lenny.
Recorded between September of 1987 and June of 1988, encompassing
a long stretch of their history, in April of 1989 their first album came
out, entitled In the Gospel Zone(Behemoth Records). The Lazy Cowgirls
still had a strong influence on them. The sound is almost punk-rock, structured
in more or less regular songs. The lyrics are sinister, almost gothic.
But there is also a version of a Can song, "Little Star of Bethlehem,"
that lasts for half an hour and leads off in other directions.
Drummer Bob Lee (who has also performed in a duo with
Joe Baiza) is the principle change on the singles "August"/"Africa" (Sympathy
for the Record Industry, 1989) and "Ocean = You"/"Solitude Smokestack Head"
(Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1990). The group finally stabilized
with the addition of Joe Dean in place of McCarter and Sarge. Flowers,
McCormick, Telligman, Dean and Lee made up a trained and competent group,
whose single "On the Tide"/"Hook in the Gray" (Forced Exposure, 1991) introduces
two members of the Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band, Todd Homer and
Larry Robinson, other veterans of the punk scene in Los Angeles, Todd coming
from the Angry Samoans. The improvisations on this record mark the definitive
maturity of the group.
The original rehearsals of this quintet will be collected on the CDs
Archive Space 1 & 2 (Crawlspace, 2000).
Tracks like Crawl Crappersweet, Hatch and Ocean
manage to wed
Captain Beefheart's spastic blues and Velvet Underground's hypnotic boogie.
The cassette Fields Rattle (Crawlspace, 1999) also
contains material of
that age, one side with Dean and one side with Lee and others.
The cassette To' Up(Crawlspace, 1991) contains
a live jam from the group that was recording Sphereality(Sympathy
for the Record Industry, 1992). In the seventy minutes of this CD the quintet
succeeds in unleashing their own instrumental libidos. The sixteen minutes
of "Go-Boy's Eyes Begin Their Plunder"/"Hatch" have two themes played by
interwoven guitars, one melodic and the other almost reggae; far from being
completely "free," the jam maintains unity and cohesion through the entire
improvisation. "You Bleed Love," on the other hand, approximates the format
of a blues-rock song in the tradition of Hendrix and the Allman Brothers.
With the title track, finally, the group takes on a psychedelic side: a
creation of fallen accords, distinct riff and rhythm in a warlike way.
And the prelude to the half hour medley of "Creek Burst Clear," a long
fainting spell into nothingness for which Flowers borrows the gestures
and tones of Jim Morrison and Nick Cave. The instruments refuse any rational
role; they whisper in a trance, they move in a drowsy and clumsy fashion.
This long ceremonial undertone represents the mature form of their psychedelic
free-jazz scene. The swan song of the quintet was the 10-inch, God Zee(Behemoth
Records, 1993), another receptacle of strained, disconnected improvisation.
The original rehearsals of that line-up will eventually surface on
Archive Space 3 (Crawlspace, 2000), including the swinging
Elmersphere and Undone Hover.
An unstable period followed, with McCormick, Clark, and
Telligman busy with the band Dizbuster; and Lee with Claw Hammer and, once
again, Joe Baiza in Nastassya Filippovna (with Mike Watt and Devin Sarno,
a quartet that seemed to be a super-group of post-hardcore). For the single
"Lunar Fuckin' Eclipse" (Behemoth Records, 1995), Telligman and Lee were
replaced by guitarist Dave Fontana and drummer Greg Hajic. This single
is perhaps the most swinging of their career, and Flowers impersonates
the madness of David Thomas with a rare effectiveness.
The surprise on The Exquisite Fucking Beauty ofCrawlspace(Majora
Records, 1995), released on vinyl in an edition of 500 copies, was the
return of Allen Clark (this time in the guise of keyboardist/trumpeter/percussionist)
and Bob Lee, while Hajic disappeared. This formation of six people represents
a type of "summa" of their story. The title track, which takes up the entirety
of the first side, begins like a soul-jazz cocktail-lounge shamble, but
suddenly the guitars clamor in with a type of galactic dissonance, and
when the group reorders the ranks, one seems to be listening to Tim Buckley
directing the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The second side, "Slippy Slowdown
Town"/"Lake Daddy Jim," is more harsh, entrenched from the beginning with
adverse sounds, the vocals raving drunkenly against the disconnected sounds
of the guitars.
It is therefore a bit astonishing that two years later
all was redone: The Dark Folds Of Infinity Grow Pink With Desire(Majora
Records, 1997) was done almost entirely by Flowers and Dean, with minor
contributions from the others. There are nine tracks, and this type of
fragmentation is unusual. There is the cold, calculated tone of an experimental
work, very far from the unrestrained tone of the previous jams. "Then We
May Speak" is practically a hyper-distorted guitar solo by Flowers. On
"Mud In Yr I," an analog synthesizer's strange buzz has the main role.
The ferocious, cubist instrumentals of Neu come to mind while listening
to the metallic sounds of the instrumental "A Pig Is Not a Motherfuckin'
Cop." There are other brief moments of what the group could play: the swinging
riffs of "Splooge," the spastic blues of "Catherine & the Earthquake,"
the mechanical and deft composition of "Scungilli," the grotesque pow-wow
of "Another Fine Mess." They are all studies of the instruments as in the
recordings of Robert Fripp and the animalistic madness of Captain Beefheart.
Flowers licks up even the most provocative dadaist pieces with "I Wish
It Would Pour," sounds from a farm, slowed down voices from a heroin-like
dream in a shapeless magma of agreements; or with "Fate Music," aleatory
music with extreme frequencies of harmonica, flute, and jaw harp. In the
span of nine cuts, the voice is rarely used, and even when it is, it becomes
utilized like another instrument. Flowers is heading towards a type of
psychedelic avant-garde music. The reference is more towards Cage than
Coltrane, more like Varese than Pink Floyd. [Eddie's note: "Fate Music"
actually features pennywhistle, autoharp, guitar, bass, and some drum bleed
from another song, but that's great if it sounds like harmonica, flute,
and jaw harp!]
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